News

Tweet this: Fast Casual Summit panelist named top tweeter

September 28, 2012

Tulsa-based Beautiful Brands International's CEO, David Rutkauskas is one of the September 2012 Top 100 Entrepreneurs to Follow for Twitter. Rutkauskas, who will speak next month at the Fast Casual Executive Summit, has more than 500,000 active followers and is ranked among top entrepreneurs including Martha Stewart, Mayor Bloomberg and Mark Cuban.

"I can't tell you what an honor it is to be mentioned side by side with some very trendsetting, inspirational people," he said. "My followers are great and they feed my inspiration as I continue to set new milestones and grow my franchises worldwide."

Evan Carmichael, who ranks entrepreneurs based on the number of their Twitter followers and their influence in an industry, just released the ranking of the top entrepreneurs for September 2012. It is the first time Rutkauskas has made the highly coveted list of the respected rankings report, landing at No. 23. In April of this year, Fast Casual.com named him to the 2012 Top 20 "Movers and Shakers" list.

CEO Roundtable

As CEO of BBI, Rutkauskas has helped develop more than 250 restaurants in 43 states and 27 countries, and will share his insights during the CEO Roundtable at the Summit.

"I want (attendees) to learn what true leadership is," Rutkauskas said. "True leadership is about believing in your people and their abilities. It's not about micro-managing but bringing out their potential so that they perform the best that they can. A business is organic in nature and will never find true success if it focuses on a single personality.

"The business has to function as a single unit from the leader down to its people. A leader has to recognize that and create a culture that values people and drives their passion toward excellence."

Other CEOs on the panel, which will be moderated by MonkeyMedia CEO Erle Dardick and Power Marketing Academy CEO Tom Feltenstein, include:

• Don Fox, CEO of Firehouse Subs
• Phil Friedman, CEO of Salsaritas
• J. Dean Loring, CEO of Burger Lounge and
• Frank Paci, CEO of McAlister's Deli.

Read more about social media.